OSU researcher earns Rohm Professorship

CORVALLIS - Oregon State University educator Paul Komar has earned the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences Rohm Professorship in Marine Education.

The Rohm professorship is funded by an endowment created through a gift by Alice L. Rohm, a former postmaster from Petrolia, Calif.

Komar joined the OSU faculty in 1970 and has served as a professor of oceanic and atmospheric sciences since 1978. He is a nationally recognized expert on coastal erosion who has particular interest in the study of river floods and catastrophic floods.

Komar earned his doctorate in marine geology at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and has served as editor of the journal Shore and Beach, which focuses on the science and management of coastal erosion.

Rohm moved from her small rural community near Cape Mendocino to Eugene, Ore., before her death in 1989.

She left more than $291,000 to the OSU Foundation for an endowment designed to benefit faculty and students in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences.

Rohm was a supporter of OSU's Presidential Scholarship program and was especially interested in oceanography and the Wecoma, OSU's marine research ship.